- Failure to provide subtitles in the right format for Freesat results in broadcaster failing subtitle quota.
Ofcom is to launch an investigation over the long-running issues caused by the loss of subtitles and other access services on Channel 4.
On the evening of Saturday 25th September 2021, an incident involving fire suppression systems at Red Bee Media’s broadcast playout centre in West London knocked out dozens of TV channels. This included all of Channel 4’s services.
However, the incident also took down servers containing subtitles and audio description files. This left Channel 4 unable to offer access services for weeks.
As part of the investigation, Ofcom is undertaking a review of the transmission arrangements and backup facilities of both Channel 4 and Channel 5, which was also affected. It will be talking to broadcasters to find out what changes they’ve made as a result of the incident.
What went wrong on Freesat?
By the end of October Channel 4 was able to resume offering subtitles on most digital TV platforms.
On satellite, two versions of subtitles are normally available – teletext and DVB subtitles. Initially, only teletext subtitles were restored. These are not supported on Freesat boxes, but can be displayed on Sky receivers.
DVB subtitles only resumed several weeks later. RXTV’s monitoring spotted the return of subtitles on Freesat on the 18th November. Following the nearly two month outage on Freesat, Ofcom said Channel 4 had failed to meet its annual subtitling quota.
Ofcom’s analysis found access services across all platforms were not fully resolved to its satisfaction until the 19th November 2021.
But Channel 4 continued to report issues affecting the provision of access services on All4 into December.
Announcing the investigation, Kevin Bakhurst, Ofcom’s Group Director for Broadcasting said:
“These problems caused deep upset and frustration among the millions of people who rely on subtitles, signing or audio description to enjoy TV. Channel 4 took several weeks to provide a clear, public plan and timeline for fixing the problems. As well as investigating Channel 4, we’re reviewing the wider effects of the outage to make sure broadcasters learn lessons and protect access services in future.”